Photographer Mary Voorwinde has brought some light to what has seemed to be a dark and gloomy situation when it comes to the tragic wildfires in Australia. Mary traveled to one of the burnt forests and later posted pictures to her Facebook showing new plant life sprouting on some of the dead trees saying, “This is a symbol of hope.”
https://www.facebook.com/photographybymaryaust/photos/a.1412292758802121/2883478655016850/?type=3&theater
The images were taken January 6th, 2019, in the Kulnura area of New South Wales Central Coast on private properties. Mary captions her post with heartfelt emotions as she describes the “hope” she felt for the forest after such a major loss.
“After a quick trip out to Kulnura today and talking to some of the locals Lee and Mick, who faced the fierce fires before Christmas, it was a humbling experience to visit their property and hear their stories,” Mary wrote on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/photographybymaryaust/photos/a.1412292758802121/2885449414819774/?type=3&theater
Mary said she traveled to the location in hopes of finding a happy story after seeing all the death and destruction in the media over the past few months. When she found the new plants growing on the dead trees and took pictures of it she said, “I wanted to show that nature was saying it’s going to be okay.”
The wildfires burnt 45,944 hectares of the forest right outside of Kulnara before firefighters could take control of it spreading. Fortunately, they were able to contain it so it didn’t do any further damage. She says it was eerie being around the ashy forest floor and burnt tree trunks but seeing new life sprouting was rejuvenating.